Desire Of The Dark
by J S Arnold
Summary: The girls leave the relative safety of each other's houses for the first time in weeks, ever since the night that Vickie was attacked. Elena is determined to have a good time, despite Stefan's reluctance to let her go, Caroline is on the prowl again, but Bonnie knows too much to feel safe at night - she knows there is nothing more frightening than a desire wrapped in shadow...
1. Chapter 1

Desire Of The Dark

1

Damon smiled and flashed his teeth in the darkness. The girls were in fine form tonight, dressed in tight tops, tighter jeans, with their hair allowed to hang loosely past the shoulders and their laughter loud enough to bounce straight off the walls. Drunk, vulnerable, easy; Elena was drunk, barely able to walk in a straight line, Caroline was as easy as... something easy, he couldn't think what right now. Only Bonnie seemed out of place here, shifting nervously from foot to foot. This deep into the depths of the dark Mystic Falls she had a right to be scared of what lurked in the shadows; his smile grew broader.

"So, what now?" Caroline asked, giggling like a school girl. "We haven't been to that..." she searched her mind for the name and shrugged when she found nothing. "That new club, you know the one that I mean?" Was she more drunk than Elena? Maybe she should be Drunk _And _Easy. "I bet all the _best_ people are in there..." with each word her speech was becoming more slurred and Damon found himself worrying about her despite himself. Was she sober enough not to get herself, or Elena, in trouble? He didn't think so. She leant back on the brick wall of the building, totally ignorant of the pieces of old gum stuffed into the gaps.

"I don't know... What time is it?" Elena was smiling too, but it was not the same kind of grin. Her's was predatory, sly, and as sexy as hell. Mentally, Damon calculated his chances of getting her alone for some loving and he smiled. By his estimation it would be simple to cut her out of the herd, as it were, as long as he could do it without anyone else knowing. He knew why Bonnie thought he was nothing but trouble, and couldn't agree more. Reflexively, he glanced down at his own $5000 watch at the time.

"Half Eleven," Bonnie told her, rubbing her arms as if trying to warm herself, although the air was warm enough even at this hour. "Maybe we should go home now..."

_No, not yet. _Damon silently implored them. _You want to stay out all night._ He enjoyed seeing the look of confusion pass over Elena's face as her weak, human mind struggled against his suggestive mind control.

"Let's stay for a bit. I'm not done partying, it's way too early!" Elena said emphatically, her mind now as good as his. He wanted to laugh but it was not yet time to show himself. He first needed to thin the herd... beginning with Caroline.

TBC

A/N: I know it's _really_ short, but this is really just like a prelude to the main event, if you will... ;-)


	2. Chapter 2

Desire Of the Dark

2

He waited until the girls were lost in the sea of dancing bodies before he glared at the bouncer, who was at least 6 foot seven and wearing an even tighter top than the girls. He had fed well before following Elena here and within moments he had the human door-man under his control. There were many other people waiting to enter the club in the queue behind him, some already almost too drunk to stand, or too high to care that this stranger was skipping the long wait to get inside. Damon had to agree with the legend of vampires; it was much better only to come alive after dark, when the powers were at their strongest and their instincts were the at their most sharp. The club was packed with bodies and the pungent scent of sweat permeated the room like a fog. It would have been almost impossible to sniff them out in the crowd.

Lucky for him, his eye-sight was still pun-sharp, and it took him only seconds to spot her in the corner of the room. She was alone, a good thing, and sitting at a small table whose surface was littered with general debris; empty glasses of bear, cigarette ends, some white powder that could have been salt or something else. But one look at her expression told him that if it was a powdered drug, it wasn't Caroline's. Little Caroline would probably inject rather than smoke, Damon knew. She'd want something that got into her system at once, he thought, something that got into her blood undiluted. Had she smoked some tonight? He hoped not; it would ruin her taste and give him a hangover the next morning.

Where had her friends gone? He wondered, a little tiny bit of concern entering his thoughts. Didn't Elena and Bonnie know that there was predators prowling tonight? That a monster might jump on the opportunity to snatch the pretty girl alone in the corner? No wonder even human men had an easy time of it. An imbecile like his brother could have taken her, and he was about as strong as she was. Girl's were too easy these days, he thought with a mocking shake of his head. Damon crossed the room and sat down on the chair opposite her. "Good evening, Caroline..." He purred in a voice so resonating that he was sure she could feel the vibrations in her bones.

She looked up, sat back, appeared startled for all of three seconds before her eyes narrowed and she glowered at him. Jesus, she was still pretty even then, with her face pinched as if she had just sucked on a lemon. _Sucked on a lemon... sucked on a..._ His smile was full of promise. "Damon—what are you doing here? Does Elena know..." but he silenced her with a single finger on her lips. Her lips parted beneath his finger and her warm breath scolded his skin, like the eternal flames of desire that burned within him.

"I did not come here for _her_..." His long eyelashes beat liked the wings of a butterfly. "I'm here for _you_, my sweet Caroline. You are the one I want, not _Elena_, and I want you _now._" His fingers caressed the thin skin between her chin and her neck, making her shiver. He saw the desire in her eyes and knew that he had her. She would most likely do anything for him now, whether she wanted to or not, all because she believed he wanted her. She stood from the table at the same moment

"Me? You came here for _me_?"

"Yes, well done Caroline."

"But Elena..."

"Elena has nothing to do with this," _for once_, "This is about you, me, and a cheap motel room." He saw her blanch at the mention of a _motel room_, but she wouldn't exactly be sleeping in one if he had anything to do with it. Besides, it was a lot cheaper to replace a motel bed than it would have have been to replace a broken one in a five star hotel. The screams he would tear out of her would probably not go down well either... He caught her up in his arms and carried her, almost nonchalantly, out side where it was dark, and where it wasn't unusual to see two people in a passionate embrace.

Taking one trouser by the teeth, Damon worked it down her leg to lie with the other one. He pushed the jeans to the floor at the end of the bed and began the process again with her panties. The more bare skin he revealed the more excited he became, and soon he was aching just to rip off his own trousers to lessen the pressure at his groin. He tore into her top with his teeth, past the point where her being pissed at him later for ruining her top meant anything to him. He had to get her undressed before he exploded.

She had been watching him, transfixed, as he ripped open her top with his bare hands. The sound of the fabric ripping seemed amplified, in the relative silence of beyond the club, and she looked around her conspicuously. Even if it was obvious that she was uneasy about something, no one close enough to see would take much notice. Her bra was one of her nice ones, black and lacy, but that did not seem to phase Damon at all and he tore it from her chest, leaving it in tatters.

"Damon!"

He clamped a hands over her mouth and shook his head, tutting. "No, no Caroline. I want you quiet—it's better that way, trust me." His body was pressed against her's and she could feel every inch of his hard, muscled physique. She didn't know why she should trust him, but somehow she did know that it wasn't her choice. The only thing she could hope for was that it would be quick and not as painful as she imagined.

"Please, Damon! You don't understand... I'm a—"

"Virgin?" He interrupted her with a low chuckle. "Yes, I know your secret Caroline Forbs. You pretend to be all-knowing, but really you know nothing..." His tongue touched her throat and he saw her shiver.

"You're not going to..." she felt herself flush in spite of her fear, "... won't take me, here, are you?"

"Double negatives, Caroline," back with the tutting, "You know that sentence doesn't make sense. " He was smiling, fully aware of what she was trying to say, as he answer her garbled question in a too pleasant voice. "No, not here, silly. A motel room, like I said. Don't look at me like that," she was scowling at him, "You know you want to." He smiled wickedly.


	3. Chapter 3

Desire Of The Dark

3

"Damon!" she panted, amazed at herself that she is able to make a noise at all. Maybe part of her had been longing for his love before, but that had been before she had known his lust. Love, _love_, didn't even cross her mind once as his tongue explored her. All she could think of was having more of him touching her, more of herself touching him.

She reached out a trembling hand to touch him but he quickly, and efficiently, slapped it away. "Ah, ah, ah..." he taunted in a sing-song voice, "stay still and be patient—you'll have your turn soon..." But she couldn't stand not being able to even place a finger on him and the desire her body radiated with felt as if it would erupt from her in a stream that would soak them both. She _needed _to touch him, but the more she tried to move the tighter his bonds held her in place.

Damon raised his head and smirked at her, "Do you feel better now?" he asked without any real concern, licking stray drops of her blood from his lips in a way that she found to be both seductive and menacing. "Do you want more?"

"Yes!" The word burst from her mouth in a cry of pure need. He had done something to her, she could feel the change in every cell of her body, every inch of skin from the top of her head to her toes, and she could not deny the pleasure that he gave her, not now. If there was any hope of a repeat preformance, and there had to be, there simply _had _to be, she would need to be willing and eager to anything that he suggested.

He kissed her lightly on the lips and drew himself back so that he was kneeling at the foot of the bed. His head tilted to the side as he considered her. "You are a pretty girl, Caroline..." his tongue carressed his bottom lip as he imagined all the different ways he might take her in the future. The possibilities... there were so many... "I _will _come for you again, you can count on that."

She pouted, while inside her stomach clenched with something darker than desire. She opened her mouth to say something more, but before her lips could do more that recieve the command from her brain to open, Damon was gone without even a puff of smoke in his wake.

Damon lost himself in the bustling streets of the city, noticing nothing other than the gnawing pain that continued to burn inside of him. He was still not sated—but how could that be? He had already taken so much. It wasn't blood he desired—for that he could prey on any of the humans around him—no, what he desired was darker than sex, darker than death. He wanted to _take_. He could take anything from the human's around him if he wished to, but he knew nothing they owned would satisfy his lust to _have_, atleast nothing physical. He wanted to leave a mark that could never be cleaned or repaired—he wanted to leave a scar for everyone to see.

Bonnie knocked on the door and waited a beat before knocking again. She didn't want to seem desperate, never mind that she was. The last thing she wanted was to freak Elena out by coming to her front door in a state, she would save that for when they were in private and where she could share with someone else just how concerned she was. The door opened, but instead of Elena it was Stefan standing in front of her. His face was, at first, carefully schoolled to seem impassive but after a moments glance at _her _expression his showed emotion.

"What is it, Bonnie? What's wrong?"

How could she explain when standing on Elena's front porch? It was Elena she needed to speak to, not Stefan, because only she would know how to handle the news that she had to give.

"Caroline's missing, and so is Damon, I don't think I have to say any more than that, do I?"

"With _Damon_?" Stefan asked in a whisper, as if not wanting to believe it was true. "Are you sure?"

He must know that I wouldn't lie about something like this, Bonnie thought savagely, sending a pleading look Elena's way. She and Elena had to get out of Mystic Falls, if it was possible, as fast as they could. Damon could be looking for them right at this moment, and this house would be one of the first places he searched. They had to leave, and quickly.

"We should stay right where we are—show him that we aren't afraid," Elena said, her eyes showing nothing of the trepedation that should be there at the mention of meeting Damon's attack on them head-on.

"Are you sure that is what you want, love?" Stefan asked in a voice too low for Bonnie to hear.

She nodded once and beckoned Bonnie inside with a silent jerk of her head.

Caroline huddled in a ball on the floor and waited for darkness to take her.

TBC

A/N: What do you think? Is it good?


	4. Chapter 4

Desire Of The Dark

4

Caroline opened a drawer, closed it, then moved onto the next one, painfully aware of every noise that came from the chest of drawers. She had already wasted enough of her limited time alone trying to figure out where she was, and now that she knew she had little time to waste. He would be back at any moment, she knew that as well as she knew how this chapter in her life would haunt her forever, and so she needed to focus her attention on being fast rather than delicate. At last she found what she was looking for, and promptly slipped on the too-big trousers _sans panties_. She was willing to steal trousers from him, put them on, but she drew the line at his underwear. She had never in her life gone without underwear whilst in public, but she would risk it just this once...

Bonnie felt as though a large weight had been lifted from her shoulders once she was inside the Gilbert house, even though her shoulders sagged still. The things she knew still sat there, but it seemed as though the load of worries had been shared between them. The air was thick with all the things unsaid, and she knew that if they had the time the words she hated thinking wouldn't need to be said. "I think Damon's got Caroline."

Stefan seemed just as reluctant to consider it as she did. Shaking his head, he said, "No, it's not Damon..."

"How can you be so sure?" Bonnie asked, working hard to keep her temper in check and to not let it dictate her actions. She was so used to fighting the Witch inside her that it should have been easy, but instead it was taking all her concentration and zapping her energy. The scene spiraled around her and she almost collapsed against one wall of the entrance. "It's not as if he has a clean record, Stefan."

"No, no, no," Elena was shaking her head, but her eyes were not focused, as if she were not thinking about what she was saying. She was trying to deny this, but even as she said _no_ the denial felt like hollow words. Her refusing to believe it did not make it any less true, she knew that and so did Stefan and Bonnie. It wasn't Caroline that Damon wanted, she was just a tool to him, she knew and so it rested on her shoulders to fix this. "You guys have to stay out of this. He wants _me_, Stefan, Bonnie. He wants _me_ and he will do anything he can to make me come to him!"

Bonnie bristled a bit at her tone. "I think he wants all three of us, a _manage a tois, _if you like. We should be smart about this, since it is not just one of us he wants." She had more than once day-dreamed of a situation like this, but she would never admit that to anyone.

... Caroline crept down the stairs in the shirt and trousers she had taken from the bedroom and tried to make as little sound as she possibly could. There was no telling if he was here or not, and the thought that he could be directly behind her without her sensing his closeness made her turn periodically to check. _This is far too easy_, she managed to think as she instinctively stepped over squeaky floorboards, _he wouldn't make it so easy for me to escape..._

Damon heard the words _manage a tois _and stopped suddenly, just out of view of Elena's house. He should have known that it would be Bonnie to mention it out-loud first, though he doubted what she imagined matched what he had in his head. He had decided while still with Caroline what his role would be, and unfortunately for Elena he planned to be more of a voyer. He wanted to _watch_.

TBC


End file.
